Acting TEA Commissioner Touts Student Math Progress
By Blanca Cantu, The Dallas Morning News
Sep. 30–State educators have much to be proud of, given the rise in Texas student math scores on the test used to compile the Nation’s Report Card, a Texas Education Agency official said Saturday at an education convention in Dallas.
Robert Scott, the TEA’s acting commissioner, touted the continual rise in TAKS scores as well as record-high ACT scores for college-bound students.
Mr. Scott spoke at the Texas Association of School Boards and Texas Association of School Administrators convention at the Dallas Convention Center. In his address to about 8,000 Texas public school trustees, superintendents and other education leaders, he spoke about areas that need improvement and changes to come within TEA.
Texas eighth-graders scored 286 in math — above the national average, 280. Of those eighth-graders, 35 percent scored at the proficient or advanced level in math, higher than the national average of 31 percent.
However, Texas students didn’t fare so well in reading, recent reports indicated. Slipping writing scores may be remedied if the state places more emphasis on reading, he said.
Mr. Scott spoke about the need to prepare students for their lives beyond high school.
He said the inclusion of college-readiness standards in House Bill 1 was one of the most significant reforms in recent years.
"Every kid should get some kind of higher education training," Mr. Scott said.
He also talked about the needs of students not planning to go to college. He expressed support to reform career technical education by making the curriculum more relevant for students who will be headed straight into the labor force.
Mr. Scott said he could support career-based clusters, but only if the curriculum is broad enough.
"If you try to train for a specific job, chances are that job’s not going to be there" in the future, he said.
He said he was happy to report that House Bill 2237, a $261 million project that would establish the High School Completion and Success Initiative, would do more to address the dropout crisis, but that the measure has added a need to stop agency infighting. The bill would provide support to schools and districts to help them with implementing improvements that align with state standards and expectations for post-secondary success.
"We need to take a step back and really stop fighting each other on the definition of it," Mr. Scott said.
Mr. Scott said the state’s language arts curriculum will be rewritten with a focus on grammar and spelling. The agency may even issue a summer reading list for students, he said.
The rewriting of science curriculum will follow soon after, he said, and it will probably involve lively discussions regarding evolution and creationism.
Mr. Scott , said TEA’s reorganization and restructuring was imminent "to make [it] more functional."
"I’ve seen an agency divided, and I don’t ever want to see that again," he said. "If we focus on the kids, that will keep us all grounded."
BILL BRADLEY, J.C. WATTS ON EDUCATION
Former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley and former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts engaged in a conversation about education at this weekend’s Texas Association of School Boards/Texas Association of School Administrators convention in Dallas. Some highlights:
On the No Child Left Behind law:
Bill Bradley: "It was an important step forward. The main thing that has to change is we need to have national standards. It’s a no-brainer. We’re not competing with Louisiana, New Jersey. … We’re competing with China, Japan and Russia."
J.C. Watts: "In terms of national standards, I would place no [more] faith in the Republican administration or the Democrats … than I would in you all [educators] creating the standards."
On school vouchers:
Mr. Bradley: "I don’t think the answer to public education will be found in vouchers. The key to accountability is to really hold public schools accountable. I would draw a line at the choice to go to a private school at taxpayers’ expense and the choice to go to another public school."
Mr. Watts: "I have never been a supporter [who says] parental choice to education is going to be a cure-all. But parental choice has to be a component in the fix."
On the need for top-performing schools to be racially and ethnically diverse:
Mr. Bradley: "Brown vs. Board of Education removed a stain. … The secret that no one’s talking about is there is a resegregation process going on in urban areas. Many live in a world where they don’t have significant contact with white people. It’s unfortunate that we’ve headed back in this direction."
Mr. Watts: "I’ve seen tremendous value in integration. In America, we have to look at new ways in dealing with old problems. The standards have to be the same. The issue is performance."
Blanca Cantu
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Dallas Morning News
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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